Accession No

6519

Brief Description

Demonstration lodestone, English or continental European, 19th century

Origin

English? European?

Maker

Class

magnetism; demonstration

Earliest Date

1800

Latest Date

1900

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass; iron); wood (mahogany?)

Dimensions

28cm w x 12cm d x 40cm t

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Tesseract, Box 151, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 10706, U.S.A.

Inscription

Description Notes

Demonstration lodestone, English or continental European, 19th century.

Naturally magnetic stone, mounted with iron pole pieces and partially encased in lacquered brass frame with clamp screws and hinged suspension. Hook for hanging from brass hook attached to a brass crossbar, held in varnished wood pillar stand.

With a separate iron “keeper”, with string and hook. (This was intended to be attached to the underside of the lodestone by attractive force, so that weights could be hung from the hook to demonstrate the lodestone’s magnetic power).

Condition: good/fair. Some rubbing to lacquer, and one of the brass frame’s screws is bent.

References

Events